DOT Proposes $1.7 Million Fine for Exxon Spill

The Department of Transportation proposed a $1.7 million fine against Exxon Mobil Corp. for failing to properly prepare for what the department says were known flooding risks to one of its pipelines that ruptured in 2011 and spilled 1,500 barrels of crude into Montana's Yellowstone River.

In July 2011, severe flooding on the Yellowstone near Laurel, Mont., eroded the riverbed—an effect known as scour—exposing Exxon's Silvertip pipeline and causing it to break. Before the spill, federal and local officials twice warned Exxon...